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This is what a TV show on DVD release should be: "Lost: Season Six" offers all the content of the show as televised but also a new mini-episode plus behind-the-scenes details. It's a win-win. Consumers get new material from their favorite show; ABC-Disney has a carrot to entice fans to buy the DVD.
The highlight of this release, "The New Man in Charge," is essentially a 12-minute epilogue to the series that shows viewers scenes of new island caretaker Hurley (Jorge Garcia) and his assistant, Ben (Michael Emerson).
This new minisode begins at a Dharma Initiative warehouse on Guam where two workers load pallets with food and supplies that will be transported by drone planes to the "Lost" island. Ben shows up and gives the workers their walking papers and severance, courtesy of the new man in charge, Hurley. The Dharma employees are confused.
"We deserve answers," one says, as if speaking for "Lost" fans disappointed by the lack of answers in the series finale.
This coda seems like an attempt to satisfy fans frustrated by the conclusion that was long on emotional drive but short on substantive answers. "The New Man in Charge" offers up at least four definitive answers to burning questions -- including where the supply pallets come from -- and includes an appearance by a one-time series regular who had seemed to be forgotten by the show's writers. That turns out not to be the case in this short, sweet, satisfying final bit of the "Lost" story.
Other features include the 38-minute extra "The End: Crafting a Final Season" (producers of other TV shows, including Shawn Ryan of "The Shield" and Stephen J. Cannell of "The A-Team," pay tribute to how to end a series and cast members reminisce), the 9-minute "A Hero's Journey" (cast and producers discuss what makes a hero and the decision to give "Lost" multiple heroes) and the 9-minute "See You in Another Life, Brotha" (an exploration of the purpose of the flash sideways).
Other features include commentary tracks on some episodes (but not the series finale), deleted scenes, four minutes of bloopers (mostly cast members breaking character as they laugh), and featurettes on specific scenes, including the submarine hull breach flood that marked the deaths of Sun and Jin. Click around with your remote on the bonus disc and you'll find additional hidden "Easter egg" features.
"Lost: Season Six" comes in multiple formats, including DVD ($59.99) and Blu-ray ($79.99), which has content from LostUniversity.org. Season six DVDs purchased at Best Buy come with an additional bonus disc with short features (each less then six minutes) on filming at Mr. Cluck's, the Sayid vs. Dolgen fight and footage from "Lost Live: The Final Concert." These seem like outtakes of the beefier outtakes included in DVDs purchased anywhere.
There's also a "Lost: The Complete Collection" ($229.99 on DVD; $279.99 on Blu-ray) that includes additional extras, a collectible ankh, an episode guide and other doo-dads.
-- Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV writer
George Romero's "Survival of the Dead" picks up evil events where 2008's "Diary of the Dead" left off, with feuding patriarchs on Plum Island which, like the rest of the world, has been ravaged and savaged by zombies.
It's not exactly high noon on a dusty, wind-whipped main street, but Patrick O'Flynn (Kenneth Welsh) and Shamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick) are adversaries worthy of a Western. O'Flynn believes in "putting the dead to sleep before they put all of us to sleep." Muldoon wants to keep the "deadheads," as zombies are now called, chained up and shambling around, going through ghoulish echoes of their previous lives. After all, he insists, "Somebody's gonna find a cure for this."
The rogue soldiers join the warring clans in this movie that kills zombies in ways old and new -- bullet to the brain, hot dog fork to the frontal lobe -- and addresses age-old disputes fed by rage but not reason.
The point of view here isn't as razor-sharp as in Mr. Romero's other zombie movies. He uses a more universal theme rather than, say, the consumerism impaled by "Dawn of the Dead" or the way the rich try to ignore terrorism and other societal problems in "Land of the Dead."
However, if you're a completist or cinephile who wants to see how Mr. Romero marries zombies with a classic Western sensibility and starkly different and fresh look, "Survival" is a must-see. For those with strong stomachs, though, as always.
The DVD extras include a director commentary and featurettes.
-- Post-Gazette
By Season 3 of "The Patty Duke Show," life had settled into the usual wackiness of teenager Patty getting into scrapes and her Scottish cousin, Cathy, not. This 32-episode, six-disc set was the final season of the series' run on ABC, from 1963-66. A few notable guests drop by, including heartthrobs Frankie Avalon and Troy Donahue.
Extras are skimpy and include the 1999 TV reunion movie, "Still Rockin' in Brooklyn Heights," which is more depressing than fun. A series of public service announcements encouraging seniors to sign up for Medicare is also a bit of a shock, although sharply written.
Identical cousins? "But that's not genetically possible!" sputters the doctor when the now-adult cousins make a visit to his office.
Watch the episodes, remember how we all wanted to be cool like Patty, skip the extras.
-- Maria Sciullo, Post-Gazette staff writer
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